Video of the Day: Cyprien Gaillard

I remember watching this video by Cyprien Gaillard at the New Museum’s first Triennial Younger Than Jesus and being a little ashamed of myself thinking the violence looked so natural and beautiful. Part of that feeling comes from the soundtrack by Koudlam, which seems almost forceful in its movement and rhythm.

The scene above documents a battle between members of two gangs of an underground fight club in St. Petersburg, which by today’s standards seems almost quaint. I googled “death gif” today after I read that the US is considering a pre-emptive strike against North Korea, and google dutifully brought back clips of people being murdered.

A nuclear war may be the one experience we won’t be able selfie. I suppose there’s some relief in that, though it will only be because we’ve destroyed everything. Let’s hope there’s something that can change the force of this current.